Bloodvein First Nation will bar non-Indigenous hunters from land amid overhunting issues

A Manitoba First Nation says it will no longer allow non-Indigenous hunters on its land, after years of alleged moose overhunting and meat wastage left the community’s traditional hunters with a dwindling animal population and few opportunities to hunt. 

Bloodvein First Nation, located just over 200 kilometres north of Winnipeg along the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg, erected no-trespassing signs on Saturday. 

The First Nation is calling on the province to stop issuing hunting licences in Bloodvein territory. 

Chief Lisa Young said non-Indigenous hunters, including those with licences, will be turned away at the community checkpoint — where one of the no-trespassing signs is stationed — if they try to enter the area. 

“We’d like to stop people from driving into our First Nation and taking over this area and hunting off of our river,” Lisa Young said. 

Bloodvein First Nation Chief Lisa Young says non-Indigenous hunters have been overharvesting moose on their traditional territory for years. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)

“We sustain ourselves with our hunting and out fishing in our area and we’ve had some unsuccessful hunts over the years because of the overhunting in our area.” 

She said the community had only one successful moose hunt last year. 

Just before CBC News arrived in Bloodvein on Saturday, Lisa Young said two hunters from outside the community were turned away at the First Nation’s checkpoint. She said the two were “scouting” for moose, despite moose-hunting season being weeks away. 

In most areas of the province, moose season starts on Sept. 15 and runs until Oct. 12, according to Manitoba’s 2025 hunting guide. 

Earlier this year, the province said it would grant 350 moose-hunting licences this year — more than triple the total issued in 2024. A general moose-hunting licence costs $61.75 for Manitoba residents. 

The province has closed a large swath of game-hunting areas in western Manitoba along the Saskatchewan border between Dauphin and The Pas for moose conservation efforts. Multiple Interlake game-hunting areas remain closed for the moose season.

The Manitoba government said it would issue 350 moose-hunting licences for the 2025 season. (Cliff Doran/Submitted by Gord Follett)

A full map of conservation-related moose hunting restrictions can be found on the province’s open data site. 

Bloodvein Elder William Young, who was taught to hunt moose by his grandfather, said moose-hunting closures in other parts of the province have recently forced some non-Indigenous hunters to start hunting in the First Nation’s territory. 

He said he’s seen many vehicles he didn’t recognize parked along the road near the community, once counting 18 while on a drive during hunting season last fall. 

“Of course the hunters are going to come to our area because the other areas are closed,” William Young said.  

He said he’s seen “irregular hunting practices” happening on their land in recent years, from helicopters scouting the area to meat left to rot along the banks of the Bloodvein River. 

He said a Bloodvein First Nation hunter would have harvested the whole animal and shared the meat with the 1,300-resident community. 

Bloodvein First Nation Elder William Young, a moose hunter, says overhunting by non-Indigenous hunters has dwindled the local moose population, leaving little for the community’s hunters. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)

“Nothing is wasted. We were taught that when we were growing up here in our community by our elders,” William Young said. 

“You could see on the banks of our rivers, the waste that’s left behind, the antlers taken as trophies and one hind quarter, leaving the rest to rot,” Chief Lisa Young said. 

“That could have fed our community, that could have fed our people and it’s left behind,” she said.  

Frank Young, who has been hunting moose along the river since he was a young man, said it’s become harder, and more expensive, for residents to hunt in the area. 

Bloodvein hunters have been forced to fly inland in the hopes of finding moose, he said.   

“There’s no place to hunt when it’s been occupied by outsiders,” Frank Young, a former Bloodvein chief, told CBC News. 

“We’ve been working on this for quite a while now, trying to stop it from being an open hunting area.”  

Chief Lisa Young told CBC that Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures Minister Ian Bushie has been in contact with the First Nation. She said that the minister, along with other First Nations in the area like Poplar River and Berens River, support Bloodvein’s decision to limit hunters on its land. 

Bloodvein First Nation is calling on the Manitoba government to stop issuing moose-hunting licences in its territory. (Gavin Axelrod/CBC)

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Assembly of First Nations have also offered statements of support. 

CBC Manitoba reached out to Minister Bushie’s office and the province multiple times over the weekend but did not receive a response before publication. 

Chief Lisa Young said she hopes the no-trespassing rules will encourage the province to stop selling licences for the area. She said council once offered to buy out the existing licences from the province. 

“We’re doing this out of sustainability,” she said. “We’re just standing by our rights.”

For those like Frank Young, who depend on moose for food, it’s “not feasible” for other hunters to kill moose in the area. But he said that could change if the population stabilizes in the future. 

“It’s good now that it’s going to be closed,” he said. “It’s going to be better for the people around here that live off the land.”

The Manitoba Lodges and Outfitters Association did not respond to CBC’s requests for comment.